The crucial May "sweeps" period begins tonight, but the outcome of the TV season it ushers out is already settled. CBS, armed with sturdy procedurals including new hit The Mentalist, will win. It now leads No. 2 Fox by a healthy margin of 2 million viewers. And Fox will claim its fifth consecutive crown among viewers ages 18 to 49.

As The Office looks to hire more viewers, NBC is giving it the best table at the job fair: the spot after Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII. The last three shows in that slot House (2008), Criminal Minds (2007) and Grey's Anatomy (2006) drew series-high audiences following the most-watched program of the year.

Golden Globes have traditionally meant more for movies than television. And this year is not likely to be different. Take NBC's critically acclaimed but low-rated 30 Rock, which won for best comedy and actor/actress awards for Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.

Will True Blood be a buzz transfusion for HBO? The pay-cable network is reuniting with the creator of one of its signature hits, Alan Ball of Six Feet Under, for its big fall launch: an adaptation of Charlaine Harris' novels about vampires and humans in backwoods Bon Temps, La. It premieres Sunday (9 p.m. ET/PT).

One Olympic competition is no contest: Host network NBC will sweep the medals for ratings. Its first five nights of coverage averaged 31.3 million viewers, nearly quadrupling the audience of the closest competing program.

It's no wipeout: Summer doldrums that normally afflict network TV are lifting this year, a possible side effect of high gas prices and the wilting economy. The Big 4 networks (and total TV viewing) are up slightly, reversing years of declines, even as basic cable continues to grow with more original series.

Major TV networks are springing into fall-style schedule rollouts, with heavy on-air promotion urging viewers to return for post-strike episodes of many sitcoms and dramas. CBS is first out of the gate on March 17 with the first of nine new episodes of three Monday comedies. Top dramas Grey's Anatomy and House will be the last to return in late April.

The February ratings sweeps period starts tonight, but it won't look like any other. Thanks to the three-months-long writers' strike, the major networks finally have run out of fresh episodes of most top series. That leaves a handful of annual big events, several midseason replacements and plenty of reality shows.